Bright Be the Place of Thy Soul
by Beckett
Summary: Snape & Malfoy have to cure a hex Snape is suffering from. Their travels will take them to the Ukraine, if they can get that far, for little is what it seems. [Edited version]
1. Disclaimers

            **Bright Be the Place of Thy Soul**

**SUMMARY: **

            During a Death Eater action, Severus Snape falls victim to a hex that impairs his use of magic. When it appears to interact with his Dark Mark and makes him unable to resist Voldemort's will, he lands himself in hot water at Hogwarts. But is everything even what it seems? And who can he turn to help him obtain the ingredients necessary to brew his cure, when it involves a trip to the Ukraine? Lucius Malfoy, of course! But nothing is ever simple for our intrepid pair. Their journey to the Continent will lead them out of the frying pan and into the fire... if they can even get that far.

**PLEASE NOTE: _There are now 2 versions of this story. One, the original, was posted here, but has been removed to be posted to a more appropriate site for its extreme/dark content, so that I can continue to receive reviews and suggestions about it. This alternate site is listed under my penname information. Click on my penname at the top of this page, and then on the link to my homepage. It will take you directly to the original version of this story._**

****

**_This second version posted here at ff.net, is ff.net appropriate, is about 1/3 the length of the original, and varies drastically in how it unfolds, and has had much, if not all, of the OC's & darkness, and sexual relationships stripped from it. This is much cleaner and lighter in its tone, and much less complex. Most of the reviews posted to this story right now deal with the original 27 chapters that were posted. They do NOT relate to the story you will currently find here, which is, on the whole, a far more shallowed-out story._**

**_If you are coming to this story from the referenced link at snapeslash, you will want to read the original version, and not this one._**

**_The ratings and information/warnings below apply to the original story—only some will apply to the ff.net posted version._**

**Disclaimer:  It all belongs to JK Rowling, Scholastic, and the various associated publishing and movie companies.** Anything or anyone you see that isn't hers, or attributed to another fan fic author, is copyright 2003 by yours truly. I am making no money from this what-so-ever, and I am sure JKR in NO WAY supports or condones what I am doing with her characters. Story title & chapter 1 title are from Byron. Chapter titles 1-10 are from a traditional Gaelic ballad. The remainder are lyrics from various songs.

**Rating: Strong R, for reasons listed below.**

**Genre:** A little bit of everything, except maaaaybe romance. **_This is NOT a song-fic, in spite of the chapter titles._**

            _This story is in many ways a 'serious' parody of the many Snape clichés found in fanfictiondom._

**Status: Work-in-progress **

            The first 30 chapters [Book I], of this story were completed as of 3/30/03. They have been under editing ever since, and I'm still not happy with them, but as the new book is due soon, I figured now or never! Chapters will be posted as soon as they have been beta'd to my satisfaction. I cannot guarantee how quickly that will be, but hopefully it will be at a rate of 2 or 3 a day. Or more. If anyone out there would like to help BETA for me, please let me know!!! Please!!!****

**Archive**: Please ask me for permission first.

**Primary Characters:** SS/LM/NM/AD/MM/PP, the Gryffindor Trio and others, some OC [Yes, I hate OC's, too, but sometimes you just got to have 'em!]

**Pairings:** Het and Slash within; a few explicit, a few extended, some references or short passages only.

**Language:** Strong language!

**Romance**: Nope. You won't find any real romance within this. Unless you count LM & NM. But we already knew about them, didn't we? Possible friendship ahead for many... maybe even including Granger and Snape. 

**Situational and themes**: Violence, sexual content, rape, adult themes, language, child abuse of ALL sorts.

                         If it can happen, it probably will happen.

                        This story is my daily catharsis. Which means—Warning! Dark fic ahead!

**Flames: Welcome. But I prefer constructive criticism. Thanks.**

            This story, even posted chapters, is in a DAILY state of editing and improvement. Chapters may be removed and reposted as they are reworked. This is a work-in-progress. 

            I apologise for the crappy way that .html documents format at fanfiction.net. The big spaces between lines annoy me too. But it's the only way I've found to make the blasted program keep the italics and bold formatting. I'm open to suggestions if anyone knows a better format to post them in. I know the quote marks do not adhere to British convention 'a"d"a'. They are American in this story. Sorry. But I think the American punctuation conventions actually make more sense. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

**Things that will help you to understand aspects of this story:**

This is surely already an AU story, since I am sure none of this is what JK Rowling had or has in mind.

This is an exercise **first** & **foremost** in writing a (mostly) "real-time" story. That means this story will be developed SLOWLY. 

Writing style may vary with the character whose "point of view" controls the scene. **_It also means that the things my characters say or do are not always accurate._** It's just what the character believes/knows at that instant. It isn't necessarily true. Unreliable narrators will be in abundance. Memories may or may not be accurate. They may even be dreams rather than memories. You have been warned!

Information may be relayed to you, dear reader, out of order. You will learn about things as characters in the story do, or as they are remembered by characters. Please have patience if you find things aren't explained right away. They will be. 

'Out of Character'-ness: You may find it. I'm working from the belief however, that any person is a complex being, capable of having very different moods depending on the situation, company, and other, less tangible influences. I originally said I'm trying to hold them to canon—but realised quickly that my understanding of what 'canon' traits are, are different, especially with some characters. So, you WILL find some "OOC" in here, as compared to canon, but hopefully, NOT as compared to my interpretation of the character. Internal logic should be here—but it might not jib with Rowling.

It is set shortly before the Christmas holiday of Harry's 5th year (1995-96 term). Harry & Co. are 15 years of age.

Snape is indeed hook-nosed, ugly, greasy-haired, sallow-skinned, and crooked-toothed in this story. Malfoy is lifted directly from the film in his clothes and accoutrements, but I don't physically think of him as looking much like Isaacs. 

Dumbledore is NOT all-knowing. And he's not perfect. I hate those traits. _Die, Omniscient Dumbledore, die!_

Sirius Black has been pardoned in the short few weeks before this story picks up. I am writing him as a bastard in this story, but trust me, I like his character and have assigned him reasons why he's acting the way he is. 

Snape _is_ among the active Death Eaters again. Yes, Voldemort is aware that Snape was a spy in the first 'Reign'.

'Original Characters': Yes. A few. Some random, some important. I can only hope you don't outright –hate- any of them.

**This story has S&M and mutilation aspects.** No slams intended to the BDSM/Body piercing/self-mutilation communities out there, but these behaviours are much more common among those who have been abused, especially sexually. Therefore, characters within this story will speak about, use, and experience some of these things on a regular basis. Expect: Bondage, knives, sexual body-piercing, torture, rape, and related themes. Often in extended scenes. 

Drugs will also be making occasional appearances. 

Psych Theory 101: One major one at work here, and that is that people who have been abused as children, often find themselves in abusive relationships again and again, even if they don't want to be. Such people also tend to have difficulty showing hostility towards their abusers—_even when they want to._ This is an important element to this story. 

Whew. Read on. 


	2. Author's Notes for Feb 2004

Author's notes for Febuary, 2004:

Ah... I'll bet you all thought I forgot about you, hm!

This edited version of 'Bright Soul' has not, yet, changed as much as I thought it would through the first 13 chapters. However, from this point on, it will, as in the original (ooh, spoiler for the new version), Snape ends up coming back to Hogwarts immediately, while in this one, he will not.

If any of you following this one have also taken a gander at the unedited version over at geocities (or read these chapters in their original form, back in June 2003), do let me know what difference, if any, you feel the omission of OC's has been making in this edited copy. Also, whether or not the chapters are more 'jumpy' or 'jarring' now, as mostly they've only had parts hacked out of them, rather than concrete additions to smooth the story over.

For of those of you waiting so patiently for Chapter 36 at geocities... it's coming. I promise. The first of the people allowed to pre-read it have only just finished the whole thing last night, and once I get a chance to discuss some of it with them, I'll be posting it to geocities. 

Christ Almighty Himself, I'd forgotten how annoying ff.net's format and upload system is! ARGH!

And does anyone have any idea WHY my disclaimers page keeps disappearing from ff.net? I upload it, come back in a week or two, and it's gone, and Chapter 1 is the prologue again, instead of the disclaimers.

That's all for now...

-beckett


	3. Chapter 17

Howdy--

This is for the handful of people who have me on author alert,  
but who also have disabled their private messages--  
check out my homepage for the return of the unedited story.

regards,

beckett


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